| 2002
IJSBA World Finals -
PRO FREESTYLE WORLD CHAMPION!
The United
States snared the top spot in Pro Freestyle as Eric Malone
of Duncansville, Pa., rode his Polaris to the IJSBA Pro
World Championship by defeating competitors from Japan,
Brazil and Germany.
Malone, 25,
who finished fourth in last year’s IJSBA World Finals
in Pro Freestyle, regained the title he won in both 1999
and 2000. Malone edged Japan’s Masao Fujisaway (Yamaha)
by two-tenths of a point (49.0 to 48.8 out of a maximum
of 50 points) to claim his fourth international crown.
Malone won his first World Pro Freestyle in 1997.
Alessander
Lenzi of Brazil (Yamaha), who defeated Germany’s
Marc Sickerling and Fujisawa for the 2001 IJSBA world title,
placed third Sunday. Nobuyuki Mochizuki of Japan (Yamaha)
placed third (48.4) while Sickerling, a two-time IJSBA
Pro Freestyle World Champion, placed fourth (48.2).
Sunday’s
freestyle title marked the first-ever for Polaris as Yamaha-sponsored
the six previous IJSBA Pro Freestyle champions. Kawasaki
riders captured the first 14 international World freestyle
championships, including the back-to-back crowns for Sickerling
in 1994 and 1995. United States riders have won 16 of the
21 IJSBA Pro Freestyle world titles.
* Editorial
and photo courtesy of Wamiltons.com
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